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YSU students repaint rock after someone paints it with pro-ISIS messages
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
After someone painted The Rock outside Youngstown State University’s Kilcawley Center with pro-ISIS messages, a group of students decided to take back one of the campus’s most iconic symbols.
Jordan Wolfe, a senior and political science major from Boardman, set up the Facebook page Monday, inviting students to repaint The Rock with the American flag and patriotic messages.
“We wanted to show that YSU students don’t support the propaganda that was on there,” he said.
Between Sunday night and Monday morning, someone painted “France deserves destruction,” “We are coming,” “YSU supports ISIS” and a symbol resembling the ISIS flag on The Rock.
The translation of the writing on the ISIS flag is “There is no god but Allah [God]. Mohammad is the messenger of Allah.”
Wolfe, however, said an international student told him the Arabic on the rock was spelled incorrectly.
He believes the messages contribute to what he called “Islamophobia.”
University crews painted over the messages shortly after they were discovered, said Shannon Tirone, associate vice president for university relations.
The threat isn’t believed to be credible.
Special Agent Todd Werth, who leads the Youngstown FBI office, said the agency takes such matters seriously but that “at this point, there is no specific, credible threat to Youngstown State or the Youngstown area.”
YSU police reached out to the FBI and other local law enforcement.
Nearly 60 students gathered around The Rock on Monday afternoon, spray-painting on it the American flag, “God Bless America” and “Land of the Free.”
Brooke Rodgers, a senior from Newton Falls, spray-painted a peace symbol on The Rock.
“I’m from a small town and a lot of families have people in the military,” she said.
Her father is a veteran of the Coast Guard and her boyfriend is in the National Guard.
“I was texting him about it and he said, ‘Be careful.’ He was very, very nervous,” Rodgers said. “It’s scary.”
Anthony Crowe, a senior from Cleveland who carried a small American flag to the Monday afternoon event, believes it’s important to note that ISIS members aren’t true Muslims.
“Some uneducated Americans don’t realize ISIS aren’t real Muslims,” he said. “They look down on people for being from the Middle East. The people who I know are very nice people.”
President Jim Tressel likes that the effort to paint The Rock with patriotic symbols was student-initiated. Students from throughout the campus community were represented in the group.
The students wrapped their arms around others’ shoulders, forming a semi-circle around The Rock, sang patriotic songs and chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A.”
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, also attended the repainting.
“I’m here in support of these kids who are changing the story here for the community,” he said.
After the terrorist attacks earlier this month in Paris, people are scared and Ryan believes that’s a normal reaction. But he doesn’t think people should allow fear to change where they go or interfere with their lives.
Still, some students found the pro-ISIS messages unsettling.
Freshmen Jacob Croach of New Castle and Bruno Abersold of Enon Valley, Pa., learned about the episode via social media.
“It was weird that anyone would do that,” Croach said earlier Monday.
Both young men headed home shortly before noon as a precaution.
Abersold said his first instinct was to take it as a joke. But in today’s world, people have to be cautious, he added.
“It’s not worth the risk,” he said.
The president and vice president of YSU’s Student Government Association, however, urged students not to allow such acts to affect their daily lives.
“I would stress that while it’s something to be mindful of, by reacting fearfully to something like this or changing your behavior, you’re giving in to the group in question and all of the people who sympathize with it,” said Jacob Schriner-Briggs, SGA’s vice president.
Ashley Orr, SGA’s president, is confident in campus police and their protection of students and the campus.
“I don’t want any student to respond in fear,” she said.
Chet Cooper, a biology professor and head of the Academic Senate, said the messages evoke an emotional response, but he thinks people should allow authorities to investigate.
“I don’t think it’s time to panic,” he said.
The Rock, a campus staple since 1965, is something of a student billboard. It’s been painted and painted over too many times to count, marking events on campus such as homecoming and welcome weeks.
It was excavated during the construction of Kilcawley Center.
That’s something sophomore Mykaela Wagner of Pittsburgh worries students might lose.
“I was kind of [angry],” she said. “The Rock is something that’s so integral to the campus and now they might take it away from us.”
Student organizations use The Rock to promote their events, and Wagner is concerned that whoever painted the ISIS messages will ruin it for everyone else.
“I trust YSU PD, the campus and President Tressel,” Wagner said. “If something was actually a threat, they would cancel classes.”
Freshmen Brianna Ondrey and Haley Gianfrancesco, both of Boardman, were irritated when they learned of the messages.
“It’s uncalled for,” Ondrey said. “It’s not really something to joke about. Even if it was just a joke, it’s not funny.”
She views it as kids being stupid.
Gianfrancesco worries about her friends who are international students.
“I don’t want them to be under more scrutiny,” she said.
The university issued a campus alert Monday morning informing students and the campus about the incident. It urges anyone with knowledge about the incident to contact campus police at 330-941-3527.
“Unfortunately, this is the world we live in today,” Tirone said.
Tirone said the university is reviewing campus security campus footage. Campus police patrol the grounds round the clock, she said.
There are no rules about who can paint The Rock or with what. What causes a problem and potentially is a crime is that the message “We are coming” was threatening.
“I can tell you we won’t be lenient,” Tirone said.